FairAndUNbalanced.com

 
From Shaun Mullen at The Moderate Voice:

It has been fascinating — in the grotesque sort of way that a slow-motion train wreck is fascinating — to watch the Russia scandal unfold. From the first intimations in late 2016 that the dark hand of Vladimir Putin was at work to elect Donald Trump to our dawning realization that the Trump campaign colluded in that effort to our astonishment at how enormous and successful the effort was, there has been one revelation after another. And so prepare your addled self for the possibility of another jaw dropper: The Kremlin may have sent Paul Manafort into a campaign he was soon to manage to insure that Trump insiders helped Putin play his game.

That would have seemed preposterous even a few weeks ago, but now seems increasingly possible.

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From Michael John Scott at MadMikesAmerica:

If there were an award for America’s worst governor the multi-millionaire, Trump loving Rick Scott would be a favorite to win. One of the Republicans first executive decisions once taking office in 2011 was to order all staff to remove any reference to climate change on government websites, and government press releases. In addition, staff was prohibited from even mentioning climate change while at work. The list goes on and on, but time and tide wait for no man so we will move on.

Scott confirmed to Politico on Monday that he is definitely going to challenge incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) for his Senate seat this November.

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From Wisconsin conservative James Wigderson:

The decision not to run for Senate was made before the Wisconsin Supreme Court election when Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Rebecca Dallet (D-Milwaukee), the liberal candidate, defeated Sauk County Judge Michael Screnock, the conservative candidate, according to Hovde.

“The decision was made before that. As I said, it was almost a week and a half before and then we finalized the decision on Sunday, so I didn’t know the results,” Hovde told Gousha. “But I clearly paid attention. You’re always looking at the political climate and, yeah, this could be a tough political climate.”

Hovde also said the passage of the recent spending bill influenced his decision, saying he opposed it because it increased the national debt. “Am I going to spend the next six years of my life on the Senate floor making that argument where nobody listens?” Hovde asked. “Maybe I wait and run at some point in the future when the country’s dealing with these problems and has to address them.”

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From libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara:

Trump and Christie are a couple of welfare statists—kindred spirits of the Star-Ledger and the Democrats. They have no problem with forcing other people to pay for their idea of “taking care of people.”

They’re just not as extreme as their more Leftist comrades would like.

TrumpCare (ObamaCare without Obama) will preserve the Medicaid program in its immoral forced wealth redistribution form. The problem is, the Left welfare statists are so wedded to government handouts and hateful of productive people that they can’t stomach any suggestion of any cuts to any redistribution program. Trump merely proposes to “cut”—which usually means to reduce the growth rate of (all of these welfare state systems automatically grow each year)—Medicaid and hand the money to the states, so they can prioritize their Medicaid spending within some semblance of budgetary restraint like any productive household has to do.

What’s wrong with that? Plenty, according to those who have never given a thought to those who are forced to foot the bill.

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Wondering why a few conservative friends fail to be impressed.

 
From Andy Borowitz:

AKRON, OHIO (The Borowitz Report)—Viewers of the Sinclair station in Akron were startled on Monday when a longtime news anchor, Carol Foyler, inexplicably began reading the evening news report in Russian.

Foyler, who is not of Russian heritage, greeted her audience with a hearty “Zdravstvuyte,” and then read the evening’s top stories entirely in her newly adopted language.

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From Julian Sanchez:

Though the FBI says it has thousands of encrypted phones it would like to access in connection with criminal inquiries, it chose to pick a very public fight with Apple to test a legal strategy for compelling assistance in a uniquely high-profile case: the investigation into the December 2015 terrorist mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. Even at the time, there was little reason to think much useful evidence would be gleaned from the deceased perpetrator’s work-issued iPhone. The shooter had destroyed his personal phone, yet left the work-issued iPhone intact, and in any event, there was no indication the attack itself had been orchestrated or directed by any larger group.

Nevertheless, this was the occasion on which the FBI and Department of Justice decided to try out a novel and aggressive legal tactic: They sought and (initially) obtained an order under the All Writs Act of 1789, compelling Apple to assist the bureau in executing a lawful search warrant by writing and authenticating a custom version of the iOS operating system that, once installed on the deceased shooter’s phone, would allow investigators an unlimited number of attempts to guess his pass code. Conspicuously, the government opted not to file its application under seal, as it routinely does, and as one might expect if it were attempting to conceal the state of investigation from potential co-conspirators. When Apple exercised its legal right to push back, DOJ ratcheted up the rhetoric, blasting the company for putting its “brand marketing strategy” above the public interest in preventing lethal terrorist attacks. There was no subtlety here: DOJ lawyers clearly hoped to leverage an emotionally charged, high-profile case to set a friendly legal precedent, garnering sympathy from legislators and the public in the process.

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From Max’s Dad<:

Being from the heartland, the breadbasket, Middle America, “real America” gives me a perspective I dont necessarily believe nor want. The agriculture perspective. The perspective that farmers are the saddest most disrespected folks on earth. The salt of the earth. Solid Republicans.

Well with the Fraud in Chief running the show, the sad farmers are about to get defrauded again.

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From Green Eagle:

So, I remember a story from the later years of the Vietnam war, when the United States was getting its rear end kicked by the Vietnamese: A fair number of people, with a mixture of sarcasm and seriousness, said that we should just declare victory and come home, counting on the American people, or at least the ones who voted Republican, to gladly accept a fairy tale for reality.

I’m hearing lately what used to be called a “trial balloon” (don’t hear that phrase much anymore, in a country whose leader’s every remark is some kind of mentally deranged boast likely to disappear within hours) that this is exactly what Trump is planning to do in Syria…

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They both knew the words
(At least one recent White House occupant didn’t)

Wondering why a few conservative friends fail to be impressed.